West Yard Farm

Award Winning Oak Frame Design

Constraints:Located in the conservation area of Dartmoor National Park.

Requirements:Light and spacious barn like structure.

Light and spacious timber framed barn stye structure with glazing on all sides.

A collaborative approach results in Best Oak Frame Home award

Located in the heart of the Dartmoor National Park and set within 60 acres of woodland and meadow, this 18th Century granite farmhouse and associated barns group loosely together to form West Yard Farm. The clients’ brief was to turn the dilapidated farmhouse and barns into a large, modern family home with annex space for various flexible use.

Tactile and aesthetic properties of green oak are utilised in a contemporary manner.

The clients chose van Ellen + Sheryn architects for the overall design of the house, who approached Carpenter Oak for the oak frame aspect, with builder Richard Goulden from Goulden & Sons finishing the property to the highest specifications.

Striking and unusual design borne from a traditional truss

The milking parlour to the west of the group provided the annex accommodation required. The brick and stone building was bisected, and a glass and green-oak framed structure replaced the southern half of the building. The annex barn provides additional space that allows an evolving flexible use by the family or for holiday rental.

Architect Eilir Sheryn worked with Carpenter Oak Ltd frame designer Paul Slemmings to conceive a light and spacious barn-like structure, with glazing on all sides and dramatic flying trusses. Finely cut square profiles have been used in combination with steel connectors and tie rods, supplied by Hercules. The truss design is an unusual but striking configuration taking its cues from a traditional scissor braced truss.

Beautiful design is key to the success of this home

The central collar is formed with an inverted ‘V’ of green oak, then tied back to the main truss members with stainless steel rods. These tie rods reduce the perceived mass of the frame at high level. The open roof space combined with the extensive glazing allows light to flood in.

To best compliment the massive stone and brick walls of the barn, a key aspect of the design was to maintain a strong physical aesthetic for the frame. The timber columns were doubled up with a small shadow gap between, to create an attractive rhythm.

The frame could undoubtedly have been achieved with single posts, and with perhaps one or two fewer bays over the length of the space. In this respect, beauty over efficiency was perhaps deemed more important, as the strength and rhythm of the frame as it extends away from the stone barn was so important to its success.

Meet the team

Paul Slemmings

Senior Frame Designer

Joined Carpenter Oak: 1999

Interview with Paul Slemmings

What is the best project you have worked on and why?
Westonbirt Arboretum Restaurant, interesting shape and lots of folk get to see it.

Who do others think you look like?
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

What music are you currently listening to in the workshop?
Captain Beefheart – Clear Spot.

When not in the yard what do you enjoy doing?
Playing mandolin, cycling and scuba diving.

Biography
I studied and worked as an aerospace engineer, namely on supersonic air intakes for the never to happen Concorde replacement. I then worked as a school teacher before getting the carpentry bug on a voluntary course just outside Bristol in 1996. I joined Carpenter Oak Ltd in 1999 as a carpenter and now spend most of my time designing frames and supporting the company’s computers, but still get the chance to dust off my tools a few times a year. So thanks for looking at our site, and should you commission us to design and build a frame for you, I look forward to being part of the process!